China and Africa seek more cultural cooperation
- By Li Xiaohua
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E-mail China.org.cn, July 29, 2013
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Chinese audience welcome Mauritian dancers to the third Xinjiang International Dance Festival in Korla City, Xinjiang on July 21, 2013.[Xjdaily.com] |
Gulibostan was reluctant to leave when the 22 dancers from Mauritius finished their passionate performance July 25 in Korla City, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
"African music is really impressive," she said.
The show by the Mauritius National Dance Troupe was part of the third Xinjiang International Dance Festival, which runs from July 20 to Aug 5. Roughly a week before the performance, a contemporary Chinese painting exhibition themed "Into East Africa" opened at the China Cultural Centre in Mauritius on July 18 with paintings from 33 famous contemporary Chinese painters. It was the first time that China Artists Association held such an exhibition in an east African country.
As cultural ties between China and Africa develop ever more rapidly, these kinds of events are sure to become more frequent. A Roundtable Meeting on Chinese and African Cultural Industries held July 19 in Beijing included some 120 delegates from China and 26 African countries in a discussion of how best to promote such events and cultural exchanges.
In his opening statement, Chinese Vice Minister of Culture Zhao Shaohua said that reinforcing cooperation between China and Africa in all sectors has been a mission of history and of the present. Cultural exchange plays an important role in deepening trade and economic cooperation between China and Africa, Zhao said.
China and Africa have enjoyed rapid trade growth in recent years. China has been Africa's largest trading partner since 2009. Statistics from China's Ministry of Commerce show that trade between China and Africa reached US$166.3 billion in 2011, a figure 16 times higher than it was in 2000.
The majority of Africa's exports to China are minerals and fuels, the cost of which hit US$54.4 billion in 2011 and accounted for about 76 percent of the overall export to China that year, according to China Business Update. Meanwhile, China exports mainly machinery and transportation equipment to Africa. Machinery and transportation equipment exports reached US$35 billion in 2011, 50 percent of all China's exports to Africa that year.
As trade volume continues to grow, so too will cultural ties between China and its various African trading partners. According to Zhao Haisheng, an official in charge of Ministry of Culture liaisons, culture too can be a vehicle for economic growth. "We should expand China-Africa cooperation to wider aspects and fields, we hope the cultural industry will be the new growth engine for our cooperation," said Zhao prior to the round table conference.
He added that multiple performances, exhibitions, film festivals, lectures and concerts by Chinese artists will be held in African countries this year.
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